Article November 25, 1972 Issue

Heredity: A Delusion

LORENE LOTZ FINFROCK

As one progresses in the study of Christian Science, it becomes clear to him that man, the image and likeness of God, inherits good, and good alone, from his creator. The teachings of this religion make clear that heredity is not a law. "Heredity is a prolific subject for mortal belief to pin theories upon; but if we learn that nothing is real but the right, we shall have no dangerous inheritances, and fleshly ills will disappear."^{Science and Health, p. 228;} God is the only lawmaker and His law is good.

Good health, a compatible disposition, intelligence, and other good qualities never have been possessed by an ancestor, but have been expressed by him. All good in human experience is expression, not possession. The good expressed by parents and followed by their children is the mutual heritage of both parent and child as His dear offspring and comes from their Father-Mother God. An individual may express talents and fine capabilities, not because his parents are talented and capable, but because both he and his parents are God's image and likeness. Their good qualities are not their private possessions but expressions of the divine.

The teachings of Christian Science reveal certain descriptive terms for man: idea, image, likeness, reflection, expression, and so forth. They all refer to man's relationship to God, divine Spirit. Just as a little darkness cannot penetrate the light, no hint of material, false assumptions can penetrate the eternal relationship of God and man. Man is the expression, not expresser—the reflection, not reflector. This is the wonderful heritage of man.

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